Enviro Avengers have been finding ways to reduce the amount of water we used for watering our school garden. The Auckland drought presented us with a rather difficult challenge. Conserving as much water as you can is mandatory now, and using hoses is out of the question. This made watering your garden plants much, much harder. What most people do for watering their plants is either putting the cold shower water into a bucket, then using that to water the plants, or using water from different sources such as the dehumidifier, rainwater runoff and vice versa. 

Our school garden is usually watered by the hose, the same as all gardens before the drought. When the drought hit, we were presented with a problem : the garden was at the field, and you had to climb a flight of stairs to get to the garden. Moving water to the garden was now a lot harder, so we brainstormed some ideas. We did have a big empty water tank near the place students ate. That was our main water source, though moving the water from the tank to the field was hard, because the theory of gravity has been proven true. None of us came up with a viable solution to this problem, so we simply skimmed over it.

Currently, we have a trip planned for the 20th of November. We’re going to the Waterworks in Coromandel. A two and half hour bus ride that’s probably going to be worth it. Waterworks is one of the main attractions in NZ, and it’s a theme park centered around water. They get their water from a stream, and are very resourceful with it. They don’t waste much water. Waterworks has multiple activities, including a water cannon shooting range, a water clock, a really big music box that’s also water-powered because why not? Waterworks also has a cafe, and it’s very health conscious, along with an ice cream shop with cold drinks. The gift shop is mostly kiwiana things, nothing out of the usual. 

Overall, we are really excited for this trip, the teachers are making a big deal out of it too. The two and half hour trip may be boring, though it will be worth it in the end. The trip was funded when we started the project, so we don’t have to pay anything. If your child is a part of the Enviro Avengers, all they need is parental consent to go on the trip. Extra information on the site at https://thewaterworks.co.nz.